Virtu Financial LLC Purchases New Position in Heico Corporation $HEI

Key Points

• Virtu Financial LLC has acquired a new position in Heico Corporation, purchasing 1,484 shares valued at approximately $396,000 in the first quarter.
• Heico reported a quarterly earnings EPS of $1.12, surpassing analysts' expectations, with revenue of $1.10 billion, which shows a 14.9% increase year-over-year.
• The company has increased its semi-annual dividend from $0.11 to $0.12, reflecting a dividend yield of 10.0% with a payout ratio of 5.61%.

Virtu Financial LLC acquired a new stake in Heico Corporation (NYSE:HEI - Free Report) during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm acquired 1,484 shares of the aerospace company's stock, valued at approximately $396,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in HEI. Ridgewood Investments LLC increased its stake in shares of Heico by 92.0% in the 1st quarter. Ridgewood Investments LLC now owns 96 shares of the aerospace company's stock worth $26,000 after acquiring an additional 46 shares during the last quarter. NBC Securities Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Heico during the 1st quarter valued at about $27,000. Costello Asset Management INC acquired a new position in shares of Heico during the 1st quarter valued at about $27,000. Banque Transatlantique SA acquired a new position in shares of Heico during the 4th quarter valued at about $44,000. Finally, Atwood & Palmer Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Heico during the 1st quarter valued at about $80,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 27.12% of the company's stock.

Heico Trading Down 0.5%

NYSE:HEI traded down $1.47 on Monday, reaching $306.44. 194,249 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 511,459. The company has a quick ratio of 1.56, a current ratio of 3.43 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.56. The firm has a market capitalization of $42.63 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 71.61, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.83 and a beta of 1.11. The business has a fifty day moving average of $317.19 and a 200-day moving average of $277.80. Heico Corporation has a 52-week low of $216.68 and a 52-week high of $338.92.

Heico (NYSE:HEI - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, May 27th. The aerospace company reported $1.12 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $1.03 by $0.09. Heico had a return on equity of 15.88% and a net margin of 14.54%. The business had revenue of $1.10 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.06 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.88 earnings per share. The business's revenue for the quarter was up 14.9% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts expect that Heico Corporation will post 4.2 earnings per share for the current year.

Heico Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a semi-annual dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, July 15th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, July 1st were given a dividend of $0.12 per share. This is a boost from Heico's previous semi-annual dividend of $0.11. This represents a dividend yield of 10.0%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, July 1st. Heico's dividend payout ratio is presently 5.61%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on HEI. Stifel Nicolaus set a $352.00 price target on shares of Heico and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Tuesday, June 24th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on shares of Heico from $244.00 to $278.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Friday, May 30th. Zacks Research raised Heico to a "hold" rating in a research report on Monday, August 11th. Wall Street Zen downgraded Heico from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Friday, July 18th. Finally, Bank of America raised their price objective on Heico from $320.00 to $355.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 3rd. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $301.45.

Insider Transactions at Heico

In related news, Director Alan Schriesheim sold 35,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, June 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $298.36, for a total value of $10,442,600.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 122,197 shares of the company's stock, valued at $36,458,696.92. This represents a 22.27% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Chairman Laurans A. Mendelson sold 56,300 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, July 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $319.45, for a total value of $17,985,035.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chairman directly owned 1,253,127 shares of the company's stock, valued at $400,311,420.15. This trade represents a 4.30% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 91,656 shares of company stock valued at $28,534,115. 9.55% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

About Heico

HEICO Corporation, through its subsidiaries, designs, manufactures, and sells aerospace, defense, and electronic related products and services in the United States and internationally. Its Flight Support Group segment provides jet engine and aircraft component replacement parts; thermal insulation blankets and parts; renewable/reusable insulation systems; and specialty components.